Victory with a Hope for Continuation

The national team of Portugal left Kyiv, as it did ten years ago, with only one victory and, to our great pleasure, four defeats. What is more, our tennis players in fact "reserved" a victory for themselves as soon as after the first day of competition. After the victories of two Andriys, young Dernovsky and the much-experienced Medvediev, the score became 2:0 in favor of Ukraine (for the first time after we beat Norway in 1996).

It is perhaps for this reason that on Saturday before last our leader, in duet with still another Andriy — Rybalko — did not play up to his potential, to put it mildly, and made more mistakes than in the Friday game against Bernardo Mota. Luckily, the sure services of Medvediev (incidentally, he is the only competitor who did not lose the game on his serves) were sufficient to ensure success in the doubles. Moreover, Rybalko had also begun to play well by the middle of the second set. Thus on Saturday at the informal party our first racket could afford to drain a glass of alcohol, for the team had already guaranteed its victory, and the three-set face-off on Sunday simply sum up the whole match. "Since a decision had already been made that I would not play on Sunday, I had a drink," Andriy confessed bluntly at the final press conference. "But the decision was made on the basis of the idea that the team will benefit if other players get more experience."

The last day of the match proved this choice correct. Orest Tereshchuk (ATR rating 910 as of December 27, 1999), who was playing his third for the national team, won the first victory. He confidently overpowered Joao Cunha- Silva (ATR rating 294). Although the match outcome was a foregone conclusion, it was obvious that the Portuguese first racket was not going to leave Kyiv with three defeats. Yet, the 32-year-old Iberian veteran, fatigued physically and psychologically, failed to counter our 18-year-old player's confident and fine game.

But the main sensation of the match was, of course, Andriy Dernovsky, hitherto known perhaps only within the narrow circle of experts and to his personal acquaintances. The match prospectus did not even carry his photo, and information about him boiled down to a more than brief refaccording to national team captain Yuri Cherepov, had never played a five set match before, beat Portugal's first racket in a 220-minute stunningly dramatic and tense match. Then on Sunday, in a game versus Bernardo Mota, Andriy displayed not only youthful fervor but also his manly character. Losing 5:1 in the last set, he managed to turn the game around to the resounding roar of the audience, and lost 7:5 to Moto only during the time break. Incidentally, Moto looked better on the Meridian courts than Cunha-Silva.

Yuri Cherepov said at the post- match press conference that Dernovsky "played this match superbly." His only mistake, in the captain's words, was that "without any experience in five set matches, he did not lie on the massage table to get back his strength. What he lacked today was this concentration of attention."

Andriy himself, answering a journalist's question about whether he had lacked concentration at key moments said, "I think many thought so, not just me." Moreover, there were obvious problems not only with concentration but also with, so to speak, "age-related drawbacks." In the second set, with the score 5:0, Andriy lost three games in a row and managed to win the set only with a great effort. He contrived to make double mistakes on his services and even surrender the game if there were troubles. Nevertheless, Dernovsky's tennis became a pleasant revelation for all, and journalists have already begun to say that the national team has already got its second racket. But Yuri Cherepov is not inclined to treat this as a fait accompli .

Now, on April 7-9, in the second leg of the Euro-African Zone’s first group, Ukraine’s national team will play an away match against the strong team of Morocco to qualify for the elimination leg of the World Group. Yuri Cherepov says Medvediev and Rybalko are quite familiar with the Moroccan tennis players, so our team’s main task is to let young sportsmen into the tournament so that they gain experience. “It will be very hard to play the Moroccans on sand (clay courts),” our captain stresses. “I do not like and never make predictions. I know the boys will come and make a 100% effort. Only God knows the result.” But, as Andriy Medvediev said at the final press conference, even if our team fails to qualify for the Davis Cup top league, the match versus the Portuguese showed that Ukrainian tennis can still go on.

MATCH STATISTICS

Andriy Dernovsky vs. Joao Cunha-Silva: 3:2 (7:6; 6:4; 3:6; 3:6; 6:4)

Andriy Medvediev vs. Bernardo Mota: 3:1 (6:1; 6:3; 4:6; 6:2)

Medvediev-Rybalko vs. Cunha-Silva-Cooto: 3:0 (7:5; 6:4; 6:4)

Orest Tereshchuk vs. Joao Cunha-Silva: 2:0 (6:3; 6:4)

Andriy Dernovsky vs. Bernardo Mota: 1:2 (5:7; 6:3; 6:7)

Over the past five years, Ukraine has played fifteen Davis Cup matches, winning nine and losing six. The most impressive victories: over the national teams of Ireland (5:0 in 1994), Egypt (4:1 in 1995), and Norway (4:1 in 1996). Devastating defeats (0:5) were suffered at the hands of the national teams of Great Britain (1998), Zimbabwe (1997), and Croatia (1996).